Lexington Avenue–63rd Street (63rd Street Lines)

Construction

The current 63rd Street Line was the final version of proposals for a northern midtown tunnel from the IND Queens Boulevard Line to the Second and Sixth Avenue Lines, which date back to the IND Second System of the 1920s and 1930s. The current plans were drawn up in the 1960s under the MTA's Program For Action.

Construction on the 63rd Street Line, including the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station, began on November 25, 1969. About US$1,230,000,000 was spent to create three tunnels and a half-dozen holes as part of construction on the Second Avenue and 63rd Street Lines. The station was built using a combination of cut-and-cover construction and tunneling machines. However, after the construction of the Second Avenue Subway ceased in 1975 due to the city's severe fiscal crisis, the BMT side basically led to a non-existent subway line, so the BMT side was abandoned and walled off with a temporary orange brick wall, and a false ceiling was placed on the upper level's IND side. Finishing touches were only applied to the IND side of the station. The tracks on the closed-off BMT side were used only to store trains outside of rush hour.

Original station opens

The IND side of the station was completed in 1983, when it was named the Construction Achievement Project of the Year by the Metropolitan Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers; however, it did not open for passenger service until October 29, 1989, when the upper levels of the multi-level 63rd Street Tunnel were completed for subway use. Upon the station's opening, it operated as a typical one-track, one-side platform station on each level, with only the IND side in use, while the BMT side of each level was hidden beyond an orange tiled false wall. Switches on both levels connected the lines to the west of the station.

East of this station on the IND side are turnouts for a connection to Phase 3 of the Second Avenue Subway, clearly visible from a moving train, which would allow future service from Queens towards Midtown and Downtown Manhattan. Also to the east, the eastbound track of the IND line rises to the upper level of the tunnel, as both IND tracks are located on the upper level of 63rd Street Tunnel for the trip under the East River. The two tracks on the lower level of that tunnel are being connected to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) via the East Side Access project. The project will bring trains from the LIRR's Main Line to Grand Central Terminal, but, as of December 2016, the lower level is currently unused.

East of this station on the BMT side, the planned track connections to the Second Avenue Subway curved slightly north. After the tracks ended, the roadbed went on for a few hundred feet before ending. With the Second Avenue Subway connection, these tunnels now merge into the tunnels of Phase 1 of the IND Second Avenue Line.

Expansion for the Second Avenue Subway

In 2007, the Second Avenue Subway resumed construction. As part of the project, the station was to undergo renovation to finish the BMT side, which would serve Second Avenue Line trains. The renovation included installation of new platform staircases, new wall tiles, new columns and column cladding, new platform pavings, new entrances/exits, new low-vibration track, and new mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, and communication systems. The contract for renovation of the station was awarded to Judlau Contracting on January 13, 2011.

On September 22, 2011, a Second Avenue Subway tunnel-boring machine completed its run to the Lexington Avenue–63rd Street station's bellmouth. Controlled blasting for the section of tunnel between Third Avenue/63rd Street and Second Avenue/65th Street was completed in March 2012.

The orange false walls at platform level were removed in 2012 as part of construction, but the orange tiles at the Lexington Avenue mezzanine, as well as on the corridors to platform level, were kept for the time being. In spring 2012, temporary blue walls separating most of the IND and BMT sides were erected for the duration of construction. Both sides have large white and grey panels on the track side, as well as "temporary" tiles that say "Lex 63" on every couple columns of tiles. This differs vastly from the small beige tiles that were on the IND side of the tracks from 1989 to 2013. New platform signs for the Second Avenue Subway were erected in December 2016.

When the contract was awarded, renovation was estimated to be finished by May 2014, but the completion date had been pushed back constantly, and as of August 2015, the completion date was Spring 2016, though this was later pushed back to Summer 2016. As of July 2015, the renovation was 91% complete, and as of June 2016, 98% complete with only cosmetic finishes and power upgrades to be completed.

To accommodate the increased patronage expected after the beginning of Second Avenue Subway service, the MTA built four new entrances at the intersection of Third Avenue and 63rd Street, leading to a new mezzanine at the eastern end of the station. Passengers travel between the new mezzanine and the platforms using four high-speed elevators, similar to the layout of several other stations deep underground. These elevators are the most space-efficient means of transporting people. These entrances opened on December 30, 2016. The MTA inaugurated Phase 1 of Second Avenue Subway service on January 1, 2017.

Artwork

When this station was opened in 1989, it had no artwork. As part of Second Avenue Subway renovations, the artwork of Jean Shin was commissioned by MTA Arts & Design to be installed in the new station areas.

Shin used archival photographs of the 2nd and 3rd Avenue Elevated train to create compositions in ceramic tile, glass mosaic, and laminated glass. The imagery is manipulated and re-configured with each level having a different design. On the south east-corner entrance at Third Avenue, there are ceramic tiles depicting construction beams and the cranes that dismantled the El in the 1940s. At the mezzanine, a mosaic reveals the sky where the train had previously been present. The platform level features semi-transparent and reflective glass depicting vintage scenes of the neighborhood.

Service history

This station opened on October 29, 1989 along with the entire IND 63rd Street Line. The Q train served the station on weekdays and the B train stopped there on the weekends; both services used the Sixth Avenue Line. For the first couple of months after the station opened, the JFK Express to Kennedy Airport also served the station until it was discontinued in 1990. The tunnel had gained notoriety as the "tunnel to nowhere" both during its planning and after its opening. Lexington Avenue–63rd Street was the third-to-last stop before 21st Street–Queensbridge, the line's northern terminus; the 21st Street station was not connected to any other subway station or line in Queens.

On July 22, 2001, concurrent with the closure of the IND Sixth Avenue Line tracks of the Manhattan Bridge, B and Q train service to this station ceased and was replaced with a full-time shuttle. On December 16, 2001, the 63rd Street Connector officially opened, and the F train was rerouted to serve this station at all times, which it still does to this day. When this happened, a free MetroCard out-of-system transfer to the Lexington Avenue–59th Street station was added. This was to provide a transfer to the IRT Lexington Avenue Line for F train customers as such a connection had been provided at the Lexington Avenue–53rd Street station along the previous routing of the F train.

The MTA's plans for Second Avenue Subway service extended the Q train (and selected rush-hour N train short turn trips), running via the BMT Broadway Line, along the BMT 63rd Street Line to serve this station, beyond which the trains turn north and run along the Second Avenue Line to 96th Street. This new service pattern was put into effect on January 1, 2017.

Station layout

From the Lexington Avenue entrance, there are two short escalators and a stair from the northwest corner, a staircase from the southwest corner, and a short elevator hidden around the corner from the escalators. From the fare control, there are two long escalators and a stair to an intermediate level, and then two shorter escalators and a pair of stairs to a lower mezzanine. Here, the bank splits and there are two separate tubes of two escalators and a stair each to each platform. The platform elevator has its own two turnstiles, and makes three stops (mezzanine, upper platform, lower platform).

The station's upper and lower levels are about 140 feet (43 m) and 155 feet (47 m) deep respectively, making the station among the system's deepest. This depth is because it has to go under the IRT Lexington Avenue Line and other existing infrastructure, in addition to the IND tunnels having to go under the East River a short distance to the east. At the original (1989) mezzanine at Lexington Avenue, there are a total of eight escalators, four staircases and two elevators from the fare mezzanine to platform level. There is an in-building entrance with two escalators and a staircase, and another, stand-alone entrance with a staircase, from the street to the Lexington Avenue fare mezzanine. Two additional staircases between the platform levels are at the eastern end of platforms, past the elevator. A third staircase between the platform levels has been construction.

An eastern mezzanine at Third Avenue, along with stairwells to the platforms, was partially completed in the 1980s but not opened along with the rest of the station. A shaftway, identical to the one on the Lexington Avenue side, contained a sole stairway, as well as beams that may have been intended to support escalators. The stairway led up to an upper mezzanine whose street entrance was sealed off. This area was renovated as part of the Second Avenue Subway construction, and the shaftway was demolished. The new entrances under construction for the Second Avenue Subway will add two new staircases, two new escalators, and five new elevators (one elevator from street level to mezzanine, and four elevators from the mezzanine to the platforms). As of April 2016, the new entrances, escalators, and elevators had been completed. The bank of four elevators leads from the Third Avenue mezzanine to both platform levels at the eastern ends of both platforms, replacing the originally planned escalators due to being more space-efficient. On each platform level, both waiting areas have a piece of the Jean Shin artwork "Elevated." There is also a pattern of the city skyline within the escalator entrance's wall. The Third Avenue entrance and mezzanine opened on December 30, 2016.

Exits

There are 3 exits leading to Lexington Avenue that were built as part of the original 1989 station, along with 4 exits to Third Avenue that were built as part of the Second Avenue Subway. The elevator between the street level and mezzanine was replaced in August 2015.

Ancillary buildings

This station has two ancillary buildings: